I’m talking about the kid who truly gets no support from parents. Doesn’t live with parents. May not be in the foster system, but might live with relatives or friends because parents are homeless drug addicts, in jail, or mentally ill. I’m not talking about a case where parents simply don’t want to pay. My understanding is that the kid would have to demonstrate that they haven’t received financial support from parents for several years. The requirement is not that the kid can support himself; just that the parent isn’t supporting the kid (and hasn’t been for some time). I worked with a high school student last year who was living with a grandmother. Father was dead; mother was long absent. Grandmother was her legal guardian, and had been for years… Her EFC was zero.
Keep in mind, this wasn’t some great boon to the kid. She had ZERO resources, and grandma lived in poverty. Even coming up with the money for applications was a challenge.